Three years since the IS attack on Sinjar, Yazidis are still in 'dire situation'

It's three years on since the brutal attack by IS against the Yazidis in Shingal (Sinjar), Kurdistan, yet the majority of survivors remain displaced in camps. Dr Nemam Ghafouri, who works in these camps helping these people rebuild their lives, says that the Yazidis survivors have been left behind neglected and forgotten.

Dr Nemam Ghafouri having a chat with Yazidi girls in a IDP camp in the Kurdistan Region Source: Supplied to SBS Kurdish

On the 3rd August 2014, thousands of Yazidi men were massacred and thousands of young girls and women were taken captive in the brutal attack that saw the Kurdish region of Shingal (the Kurdish name for what English speakers know as Mount Sinjar) decimated in a brutal attack by IS.

Since then, hundreds of families have been resettled abroad in locations including Australia, Canada, USA and Europe. Most of the survivors however, remain in IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps in the Kurdistan Region - and some in Turkey.

Sinjar pictured in 2016 - two years after its liberation Source: Joint Help for Kurdistan

Dr Nemam Ghafouri is the founder of Joint Help for Kurdistan (JHK) and the Director of the Kurdistan Region branch of this small charity organisation which provides healthcare aid for the Yazidi IDPs in particular.

For many Yazidis stuck in the IDPs, JHK is a beacon of light that they are in desperate need of.

JHK runs a health centre in a triangular border between Iraq, Turkey, and Syria treating up to 4000 patients per month.

In addition, they run education programs for children, programs for orphans, such as child sponsoring and, "a special program for those women and children who come back from captivity from ISIS," Dr Ghafouri explains to SBS Kurdish.

"Those girls and children who are coming back from captivity by ISIS, now after three years, they are in tremendous need," Dr Ghafouri asserts.

The JHK education program in action Source: Image credit supplied by JHK

Sport program for girls in Yazidi IDP camps "Girl Power in Play" Source: Image supplied by JHK

"Girl Power in Play" is a is a sports and well being program for girls, initiated by Program by JHK. Two separate teams have been formed from the Bajed Kandala Camps (Camps 1 & 2) and they play together every week.

JHK reports that this has had a positive impact on the girls' well-being and provides some relief in the otherwise harsh environment of the camps, acting as a psychological treatment for trauma for those escaping IS.

Bajed Kandala Camp 2 Source: JHK

According to Dr Ghafouri, the UN has decreased it's support for the Yazidis in the IDP camps by 80 per cent, "because, according to the rules and regulations they are IDPs - not refugees who have crossed the border."

She explains that therefore "the central government should take over (after one year) all kind of support for the 'Internally Displaced People.'"

Sewing workshops run by JHK for Yazidi women in IDP camps Source: Image supplied by JHK

Sewing workshops (as well as other skills) are run by JHK, to help empower the women, in the hope that they can become financially independent in the near future.

Dr Nemam Ghafouri, believes that Yazidis have been mostly ignored by all parties, "and they have been used really just as a tool to pressure each other."

"And unfortunately this is done by even the Yazidis themselves, and they have been divided into political groups."

"Many humanitarian organisations are there in the name of Yazidis, but there is no coordination...in order to avoid duplication, in order to make a bigger impact for those in need."